* Plan ahead or you will find yourself with low blood sugar, tired, and holding the refrigerator door open willing to grab the first item you see. As anyone who has followed my diet tips will tell you, this is generally, an unhealthy choice. The successful dieter always has hard boiled eggs, egg salad or some form of cheese and nuts available. Utilize your days off to pre-cook chicken breasts, ground beef, boil eggs. Planning and cooking ahead allows you to make controlled decisions and takes the burden off of planning a meal after a hard day. Freezing your pre-cooked meats will save you at least 30 minutes in the kitchen. Just add spices and sauces and prep your veggie!

* It is said that the healthiest foods are around the perimeter of the grocery store. These are the foods in refrigerator and produce cases. This is where the majority of your shopping should take place. This, one of the healthiest diet tips.

* Begin your plan by consuming 3 meals per day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner with a 4-5 hour period between meals. This will allow organs and subsequent hormones correct signaling patterns. Insulin for example is continually secreting and in the bloodstream of the 5-6 mini meals daily plan and this is out dated advice. Keep your fat high and you will not find a need to snack. One snack may be necessary for those who excercise

* When beginning your healthy diet plan, make your menu easy. Many times if we over think our menus, we get discouraged and give up. Frequently, I will eat eggs for dinner or a rib eye thrown on my cast iron griddle with a pat of butter and a side of steamed broccoli. When we are properly nourished, our cravings do subside and we truly appreciate the value of real food.

* Be sure to stay hydrated. There is no set amount. Your water consumption is dictated by energy expended, weather and foods consumed. You actually require less water with fresh food intake as fresh food contains a higher water content. Generally if you experience thirst, you are in a beginning stage of dehydration.

* If you work outside the home, pack your lunch. Eating out with colleagues can derail any healthy diet plan. Unfortunately, human nature takes over and your friends will try to encourage you to blow it "just this one time". I promise, you will fight this statement through out your journey.

* Don't rely on the scale for you success. The scale lies but the tape measure will be your friend. I wish I had taken measurements when I began because during periods of stalls I allowed the scale to dictate my day and this is not a healthy way to think. I finally figured it out with a changing shape and the feel of my clothes.

* Even if there is no weight or inches lost, never forget that you are now nourishing yourself better than ever before. Hang tight, your body will let go of the weight but in the mean time, it's working on cellular regeneration. Don't let your need for instant gratification dictate your food choices. The human body is much more complex than your need to be lean.

* If you hit a plateau for more than a 4 week period, we may need to look at other potential causes. Hormonal imbalance is the biggest barrier of weight loss and there are 10 specific hormones to blame.

* When you become discouraged, begin a journal or review your journal for potential clean up of your menu. You might be getting lazy about your nutrient values or believe it or not, you might not be eating enough

* Do NOT combine high fat with high carbohydrate. While low carbohydrate high fat is a healthy diet plan, one of your most important diet tips is, when you increase carbohydrate, you must watch more carefully, your intake of fat. This does not mean low fat nor does it mean reduced fat product. It means less fat.

* Should you find yourself digging into the cookie bowl, don't throw your plan out the window! No, all is not lost. You can gain control and my best diet tip is to get back on plan with the very next meal. Do not wait another day or until Monday rolls around. This will be a great training device for making this a lifestyle and not just another fad diet.

In The Kitchen-Diet Tips

* Begin with a pantry clean out. The pantry has become a huge part of the kitchen when it should really be the smallest section for your food storage. Real food requires refrigeration not dry storage. Real food spoils so put your thinking cap on and think about what I just said. If it doesn't rot do you really think it's a safe food item? Only dry spices, herbs and emergency canned items or canning you have done from your fresh garden should be stored.

* Maintain stock of items that you use frequently. I never allow myself to run out of eggs and butter for example.

* Kitchen gadgets and supplies can make the healthy diet tips difference and save you a great deal of time. Mini food processor, a nice sharp kitchen knife, vegetable steamer and lemon press happen to be my favorite gadgets. While I enjoy eating, I don't necessarily enjoy cooking.

* Do be careful with food prep. We don't want to cut too many vegetables ahead of time as oxidation occurs. We lose valuable nutrients too. A cucumber for example loses 50% of its Vitamin C when cut open and half returned to the refrigerator

* Almost any whole food recipe can be converted to a healthy weight loss and maintenance recipe. Diet Tips: Replace pasta with vegetables, sugars with Xylitol or Stevia, potatoes with cauliflower, jicama, turnip, and for those in Phase II, parsnip.

* Don't forget that plastics are dangerous. Glass storage is always the safest choice. Bisphenol-A is implicated in obesity, cancers and other illness. We store these as estrogens in our adipose (fat) tissue. One might wonder why this is in our diet tips section. You would be surprised to find how much is contained so close to our food supply.

Dining Out-Diet Tips

* Dining out can be tricky and can present some sticky situations. Choose the restaurant you know will accommodate you. If you have a relationship with a restauranteur or server, let them know the basics of your new plan. Many servers are quite familiar with the "no bread no pasta" order and will be able to make educated suggestions. Be careful though because the suggestions might not be educated so refer to your healthy food list. The easiest, safest order is always a steak and a side salad or veggie. Generally, I order steak and just automatically say "extra veggies, no starch". Don't even allow them to bring the basket of bread to the table and if you're starving, eat the butter!

* Fast Food is Junk Food. Chemical additives, petroleum, and poor quality foods only drag you down and do not nourish you at a cellular level. A full stomach does not equal cellular regeneration. You deserve fresh, healthy food and I don't mean Subway! Do take this diet tip seriously.

* This is real life. Real people eat fast food whether I tell them to or not. So, here's my advice. If you're in California, In and Out Burger makes the double double protein special. Request no cheese please! That American Cheese square on your burger is a hydrogenated product and it contributes to heart disease. If you must have it, just don't tell me! There really is no good choice low or high fat at a fast food restaurant so if you're going to do it, choose what you like in the form of a hamburger wrapped in lettuce. My best diet tips if you're craving your old favorite. We're not perfect but we can work harder.

* I will often stop at a grocery store if I am out. There are plenty of items you can choose that are fresh and healthy. If I need nourishment, and when not in a social situation, the grocery store is always my first stop. Our family absolute favorite is "Burrito in a Box" at many of the new Whole Foods locations. This is my best diet tip.

* You will not die from famine in just a few hours. If you can get by on a quick string cheese to maintain blood sugar, wait until you get home to prepare a quality meal. In many cases, a little fasting is soothing to the digestion.

The Family Table-Diet Tips

* This will be your most challenging experience. Take a look at your children. Do they exhibit the need for a healthy weight loss program? Encourage your children and partners to join you in this fabulous journey. If your family has been consuming refined foods for some time, it's going to be challenging but if you're the shopper, prep cook and head chef, you have more control than you know. Fortunately, with your incorporation of food like butter and other full fat items, your family will gravitate toward the richer tastier foods and farther away from the chemical induced taste but tantalizers they're used to!

* I have found that casserole style meals can serve as good comfort foods with hidden vegetables for the picky eaters

* When packing lunches, it's ok to be different. Most of us actually enjoy and many prefer an appetizer style lunch over the conventional sandwich, chips and drink. Jicama and hummus, deviled eggs, cream cheese rolled in meats, veggies dipped in cream cheese with roasted garlic, string cheese, nuts and apple slices dipped in nut butters. If feeding children sandwiches, do check out the frightening information regarding bleached flour on our foods to avoid page.

* One of my best diet tips: Smoothies are your superior breakfast choice for children if there is no time to make them eggs. Do try to remember though that one of the most powerful breakfast menus contains eggs fried in butter and topped with avocado. If you have a child getting ready for a test, this is the fuel that will power their brains.

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."-Thomas Edison
"I never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000 step process"-Thomas Edison
"It's never too late to be who you might have been"-George EliotDream it, talk it, live it. -Rose Fitzgerald

Thanks SO much Fawn, great list and great information. I especially liked the tip about the pantry, I am trying so hard to change my WOE, and then I look in my pantry: crackers, animal crackers, cereal! I I need to make changes for my children as well, as soon as we are out of the stuff we have, I am not going to replenish the snack cupboard. We will stick to basics like string cheese, greek yogurt, nuts, fruits and veggies for snacks. Thanks so much for the reality check.

I agree with advising people to take measurements in addition to weighing, but please don't tell them "the scale lies". Lord knows people are already irrational enough about the scale. The scale does not lie--we just don't like what it tells us sometimes.

Maybe "the scale lies about fat loss" I know that's a pet peeve of yours Peanutte.......technically the scale doesn't lie rather it doesn't show the whole inside picture. I understand what you're saying. it's a good point.